Wales were outmuscled by Samoa in their decisive game in Pool C, going down 19-12. The two teams had reached their head-to-head without any trouble against Malaysia and Papua New Guinea

Wales' Gareth Davies is tackled by Malaysia's Zulkiflee Azmi during the Rugby 7's tournament at Ibrox Stadium during the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

Geraint John will have to put his past firmly behind him when his Australian sevens side meets Wales in the Commonwealth Games medal quarter-finals in Glasgow today (Sunday).

The former Wales assistant coach, who recently left his post in Canada to become the head coach of the Wallabies’ sevens team, was able to rub his hands with glee as the men in gold not only turned over England to win Pool D, but their 15-7 triumph set-up a clash with Wales.

Wales were outmuscled by Samoa in their decisive game in Pool C, going down 19-12. The two teams had reached their head-to-head without any trouble against Malaysia and Papua New Guinea.

The tough-tackling Samoans picked up the first try through some loose defence by the Welsh close to their line, but Will Harries responded with a great score from broken play to level.

The hooter sounded as Wales had what seemed to be the final play of the first-half, but they conceded a penalty and Saoa Toloa went all the all the way to the other end to score at the posts to make it 14-7 to the South Sea islanders at the break.

The Samoans were more physical and faster and picked up a third try, and a second from Toloa to stretch their advantage to 19-7. They lost Lio Lolo to the sin-bin for the final two minutes and that allowed Luke Morgan, Wales’ main strike-force to cross in the left corner that cut the deficit to seven points and put the game back in the melting pot.

But the Samoans hung on to win Pool C and will meet the runners-up in Pool D in the quarter-finals.

Wales also made the top eight, but their route was made that much tougher by their defeat. England had two players sent to the sin-bin, and saw their skipper limp out of the action, as Australia outmuscled them to win Pool D. In the biggest clash of the day at Ibrox Park it was the Aussies who stole England’s thunder as they earned themselves a quarter-final clash with Wales with victory by three tries to one.

Dan Norton was the first to be sent to the sin-bin and then Tom Mitchell’s replacement, Christian Lewis-Pratt, followed with one minute, 25 seconds left on the clock. By then, tough, the contest was over.

Mitchell had been England’s guiding light in their earlier wins over Sri Lanka and Uganda, but picked up a right leg injury in a tackle in the second half. The leading points scorer in the IRB World Sevens Series last season, he would be a huge loss to England’s hopes of a medal if he cannot play today (Sunday).

Mitchell converted Marcus Watson’s opening try, but Cameron Clark’s touchdown made it 7-5 at the interval in the crucial game. Then came the first sin-bin and two tries flowed from the Aussies against six men, the first going to Sean McMahon and the second Jesse Parahi.

New Zealand stretched their remarkable record to 28 straight wins at the Commonwealth Games and overhauled Scotland 17-14 despite being reduced to five men at one stage. The Scots then went on to turn the tables on Canada, 21-5, to clinch their place in the medal hunt.

They will now meet South Africa, who cruised through Pool B and looked like the biggest threat to the All Blacks hunt for a fifth successive gold medal. The All Blacks will meet Kenya.

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